Traffic Tickets
Presently, the total number of traffic tickets issued is approximately 175 million per year, and the vast majority of these tickets are speeding tickets. By definition, every driver is forced to maintain a certain speed due to speed signs. Failure to stay at or below the posted speed may lead to a traffic ticket. Due to limited concentration, it is hard for a driver to know the proper speed limit of an area. Also, signs may be hard to see. Yet GPS offers a way to help drivers deal with speed limits.
Global Positioning Satellites (GPS) allows satellites in orbit around the earth to provide geographical position information to ground receivers.
Recent Advances in GPS
With recent advances, the GPS signal has become outstandingly accurate. The accuracy is enough locate a car on a road. Recently, many advances have allowed the signal of a GPS receiver to become much more accurate and low cost when placed in a vehicle. Croyle U.S. Pat. No. 6,029,111 (701/207), issued Feb. 22, 2000 discloses the use of GPS velocities to allow micro-machined piezoelectric sensors much better accuracy than ever before. Moreover, the position and speed can be further improved as shown in Kohli U.S. Pat. No. 6,041,280 (701/201), issued Mar. 21, 2000. By comparing position and direction changes with GPS signal changes, the position and speed of a car can be further determined.
The convenience of GPS is now at the consumer level. Stand-alone devices now retail for about $200 in stores. The GPS signal can be received from a personal computer as well. Gildea U.S. Pat. No. 6,018,784 (710/129), issued Jan. 25, 2000 allows a PCI card in a personal computer to accept a GPS signal. By combining the ease and accuracy of GPS, many new applications and functions are now available. Andrews U.S. Pat. No. 5,983,156, (701/115) issued Nov. 9, 1999 shows that GPS can automatically vary the performance of a car depending upon geography. Comparing a GPS position with a city map database can allow automatic control of the engine computer. This can change the engine fueling via the engine computer so that a car performs with low emissions in the city and with more power in the wilderness.
Use of GPS to Avoid Speeding
Speed Minder uses lights and tones to alert drivers that they are speeding. Haeri U.S. Pat. No. 5,659,290 (340/441) issued Aug. 19, 1997 shows that a speedometer or other drive shaft connection can measure speed and alert a driver if the vehicle is over a preset speed limit. Haeri U.S. Pat. No. 5,659,290 includes a digital display and tone to notify the driver.
Ross U.S. Pat. No. 5,977,884 (340/936) issued Nov. 2, 1999 activates a radar detector alarm if the radar detector detects radar or if the GPS signal shows speeding. A tachometer signal or a GPS receiver gives the vehicle's speed. This invention requires the user to manually set the speed limit.
Vaughn U.S. Pat. No. 5,485,161 (342/357) filed Nov. 21, 1994, allows vehicle speed control based on GPS/MAP matching of posted speeds. The system includes a GPS navigation receiver, a database processing facility, a GPS computer, an engine computer, a video display, a speed sensor and a heading sensor. The database processing facility can be local or remote. The GPS computer obtains the latitude, longitude, heading and speed of the vehicle. The database processing facility processes the GPS data and obtains the location and the maximum-posted speed of the vehicle. The GPS computer or an engine computer perform the comparison between the vehicle speed and the maximum posted speed and signal the odometer to decrease the vehicle speed if the vehicle speed exceeds the maximum posted speed plus some predetermined value.